Everton: Sky Sports pundit claims ‘players won’t stand for’ contract fix amid report club faces ‘financial disaster’
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
Everton players not having heavy reduction clauses in the event the club drop into the Championship is not overconfidence on the club’s part, says Kevin Campbell.
The Telegraph reported on 8 March that the club were facing a “huge financial headache” if they go down due to a lack of “significant relegation clauses” in contracts, with the Toffees’ wage bill believed to be the highest outside the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ – a source claimed the drop would mean “financial disaster”.
But former Goodison Park captain Campbell, a Sky Sports pundit, can understand the situation because top level players would reject such arrangements and not sign.
Speaking exclusively to Goodison News the former Everton skipper explained why it is understandable that relegation release clauses may not be present: “If you’re a player and you are trying to recruit me I don’t want that in my contract.
“If it’s a four-year contract I want to be able to plan for that four-year contract.
“The fact of the matter is if the worst were to happen you still want to be able to do the things that you could have done whether you went down or not.
“So I don’t think it’s overconfidence or anything. I just think they’ve got to get the best out of the players anyway.
“A club like Everton shouldn’t be in this situation. And I think to recruit the right players and get them in, a lot of players won’t stand for that in their contracts.
“It’s one of those things, either you sign them or you don’t and if you don’t sign them you’re missing out.”
Players wanting financial security is no surprise, but between the club and the squad clearly a lot has gone badly wrong to be facing relegation and the potential for big contracts to cause major problems.
Everton currently have the dual-failing of a high wage bill in a relegation battle, and a failure to attract reinforcements anyway when they were badly needed in January.
Between the hierarchy recruiting poorly and those that arrive not living up to their billing Sean Dyche is now fighting back from the brink, and if he isn’t ultimately successful the squad is sure to look very different going forward with star players sure to be picked off.